The White House has condemned as “totally unacceptable” the harassment of a US journalist on social media for asking Prime Minister Narendra Modi a question at his joint press conference in Washington with President Joe Biden.
Last week, The Wall Street Journal reporter Sabrina Siddiqui asked Prime Minister Modi about the rights of minorities in India and what steps his government was willing to take to improve them and also uphold free speech.
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Saturday 23 Nov. 2024
A day after the joint press conference, the reporter faced online abuse for questioning the prime minister, with some alleging that her question was “motivated” and calling her a “Pakistani Islamist”.
“We’re aware of the reports of that harassment. It’s unacceptable. And we absolutely condemn any harassment of journalists anywhere under any circumstances. That’s completely unacceptable. And it’s antithetical to the very principles of democracy that were on display last week during the state visit,” National Security Council Coordinator for Strategic Communications John Kirby told reporters on Monday in response to a question.
In response to Siddiqui’s question, Prime Minister Modi had strongly defended India’s record on democracy and his government’s performance and human rights, saying that the basic foundation stone of his government has been ‘Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas, Sabka Vishwas and Sabka Prayas’, which means together for everyone’s growth, with everyone’s trust.
“India is a democracy. And as President Biden said democracy is in the DNA of both India and America. Democracy is in our spirit. Democracy flows in our veins. We live democracy. Our forefathers moulded it in words, which we call the Constitution,” he said.
“Our government runs on the fundamental principles of this Constitution. We have proved that democracy can deliver. When I say deliver it means there is no place for discrimination on the grounds of caste, creed, gender, religion,” Modi said.
White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said, “At the White House, under this administration, we are committed to the freedom of the press, which is why we had the press conference last week.”
“We certainly condemn any efforts of intimidation or harassment of a journalist or any journalist that is just trying to do their job. And so, I just want to be very clear about that,” she said.
In response to a question on whether Prime Minister Modi and President Biden had discussions on issues such as press freedom and human rights, Jean-Pierre said President Biden will “never shy away” from having those conversations with a world leader or a head of state when it comes to human rights.
“He has done that throughout the past two years and through his career as a vice president and certainly as a senator. I’m not going to get into private conversations, but I think we have made ourselves very clear here on our view. And I’ll just leave it there,” she said.
